Pizza Prankster Causes Mayhem And A Police Investigation

Revenge is sweet. But in the case of Guido Grolle, a lawyer from the small western town of Dortmund, Germany, revenge is pizza. According to reports from the local German newspaper, Ruhr Nachrichtennews, Grolle is pressing charges after having an endless chain of pizzas unwillingly delivered to his office since the beginning of January.

They arrive like clockwork every day as lunch approaches. Grolle has been up to his neck in mozzarella, cheese, and sauce. He's had enough.

Who Would Do Such A Thing?

Is it a disgruntled former client who's behind the pizza-ordering madness? Has a hacker's code gone rogue with a pizza fetish? One theory is that there's no foul play and that the pizza orders are the result of a glitch in the computer system. At one point, Grolle "placed" 15 pizza orders in under 27 minutes. The influx of pizzas has been a distraction for Grolle, to say the least. BBC translated his frustrations from the original interview in German: "It's infuriating - you can barely manage to work."

If it is a malicious shot at revenge from someone who Grolle knows, his harasser doesn't have anything else to gain outside of his or her own sick pleasure. No one is making any money here. Grolle isn't being forced to pay for the deliveries. The pizza shops have had to eat the costs of over 100 pizzas-worth of raw ingredients.

Even Mystery Orderers Get Sick Of Pizza At Some Point

The saga began with pizza deliveries but has since expanded to a broader pallette. It wasn't long before more than just pizza started showing up at the front door of Grolle's law practice.

What Charges Does Such A Prankster Theoretically Face?

If it is a real person who's delivering these real pizzas, then they could be found guilty of harassment or stalking and face up to three years in jail. Hijacking someone's personal information to place orders is considered a form of harassment under German law.

How Will The Madness End?

There are still no leads in the case, and Grolle doesn't have the faintest idea of why anyone would target him specifically. Faulty computer code would be the simplest explanation, except that the orders are only being sent to Grolle, and from multiple kinds of restaurants over the course of weeks.